Booker: If I Had Planned On Senate Run, I Wouldn't Have Joined Start-Up

Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker got the profile treatment in The Washington Post on Monday. The newspaper suggested that up-and-coming Democrat "seems to have been engineered in a political lab to walk the halls of Congress." And, inevitably, the topic of Waywire came up.

A small video aggregation website, Booker co-founded Waywire last year and tapped his network of powerful friends and supporters to help raise $1.75 million for the venture. Booker recently disclosed that his stake in Waywire was worth between $1 and $5 million, and his role in the company has received attention in the press. And Waywire's chief executive, Nathan Richardson, recently resigned from the company. Booker now says he might not have gotten involved at all if he had known he would running for Senate.

"I was saying this to a friend the other day, 'If I were thinking my whole career about being a United States senator, I could name quickly to you a dozen things I would have never ever done," Booker told the Post.

Asked to give an example, Booker pointed to his press secretary, seated next to him.

"He's been dealing with one of them," Booker said. "With Waywire."

Waywire continues to solicit investors even as Booker runs for federal office. Both Waywire and Booker's press team recently declined to tell TPM whether Booker had met with people interested in investing in the company since he declared his candidacy for Senate. In his interview with the Post, Booker insisted there was nothing wrong with his involvement in the company.

"I mean, there is a mayor across the river who has one of the largest media companies that's named after him, for crying out loud," Booker told the Post, referring to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Post then asked Booker if he had spoken with Bloomberg about his involvement in Waywire.

"I talked -- I -- I -- I -- I, no comment," Booker said. "He's a dear friend! He's a dear friend, we talk about a lot of things."

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Eric Lach is a reporter for TPM. From 2010 to 2011, he was a news writer in charge of the website?s front page. He has previously written for The Daily, NewYorker.com, GlobalPost and other publications. He can be reached at ericl@talkingpointsmemo.com